Raipur hosts half-marathon to promote sportsmanship
Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Feb 19 (ANI): Thousands of people on Sunday participated in a half-marathon in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur. The event, jointly flagged off by Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel, legendary sprinter Milkha Singh and state Chief Minister Raman Singh, was held to promote adventure sports and tourism across the state. “This (marathon) has been organised here for the athletes and common people. Marathons have been very popular in our country. As many as 15,000 participants are taking part in the marathon this time and I can definitely say that 50,000 people will take part in it next time,” said Goel. Participants, from all walks of life, took part in 13 separtate categories of events, which included Great Raipur Half Marathon, 10-kilometre Raipur Run and 5-kilometre Raipur Run. A separate category for the specially-abled was also included in the sports event that featured 22 international marathoners from countries, including England, Switzerland and Kenya. Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Geeta Phogat, was also present at the event.
